Crane-bucket.



1. A. ROBERTS. CRANE BUUKET. APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, .1910.-

Patentedr Mar. 21, 1911.

2 SHEETS-Lamm' 1.

J. A. ROBERTS. CRANE BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1910.

987,492. Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

2 SHBETBfSHEET 2.

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JOHN ACE ROBERTS, OF CARDIFF, ENGLAND.

CRANE-BUCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

Application filed May 14, 1910. Serial No. 561,352.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jer-1N Aon Itonnsrs, a subject ot the King of GreatBritain, ing at Q1 Park Place, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales, England,have invented new and useful Improvements in Ciane-uckets, of which thefollowing is a specilication.

My invention relates to crane buckets for use in coaling, excavating,building and other operations, and more particularly to that class ofsuch buckets wherein the sides are adapted to be lifted relatively tothe bottom for the purpose ot' discharging the contents, the object ofmy invention being to construct a bucket of this kind which is suspendedby a single rope, and which can nevertheless be discharged by the driverof the crane working the bucket.

According to my invention I attach to the bottom a stem or standard theupper end of which is united by a rod to one end of a link or bar havingrecesses in which a ring 01 the like on the crane chain or rope engages,and the body is provided with trunnions or the like to which the bucketbail is connected, the free end of the said bail be ing pivotallyattached to the other end of the link.

To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the sameby reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is asectional elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan of a crane bucket arranged inaccordance with my invention. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of amodication but showing the bucket in the position for the discharge ofthe contents.

a indicates the body of the bucket, which, as Shown is of circularsection, and l) indicates the conical bottom, o, o being guide rodsfixed to the latter which work in the guide sockets (Z, Z on the body.

e is the bail of the bucket which is connected to trunnions j', j"thereon, and g is the stem or standard which is fixed to the bottom o.

71, is the link or supporting bar on which a ring or eye z' on the cranechain or rope slides, the said link having in it the two recesses y', jin which the ring can engage. This link h is at one end pivotallyattached to the bail c and at the other end is pivotally connected by arod c to the upper end of the stem or standard g. The connecting rod 7c,bail c and link 71, are of such relative lengths that when the body orests upon the bottom o as shown in Fig. 1, the ring z' of the cranewill lie in the recess y' over the center of the bucket. Upon theextended end 71.2 ot the bar 7L adjacent to the recess is arranged aweight Z (or if desired this weight may be i :red upon the rod 7c asshown in Fig. 3) the normal tendency of which will be to swing the linkL, rod /c and bail c in the direction of the arrow l, Fig. 1, so thatwhen the crane ring is dropped out of the recess the said link 71. withthe connected parts will be thrown over to the position indicated by thedotted lines in Fig. l, whereby the recess j will be brought intoproximity to the ring 'z'. If, now` the crane-chain is drawn up theeffeet will be to litt the body a independently of the bottom o so thatthe parts will assume the position shown in Fig. 3, any material withinthe bucket being discharged from the same by sliding off the conicalsurface I) of the bottom.

When the bucket is loaded the parts are in t-he position shown in Fig.1, that is to say, with the ring i in the recess j; when the contentsare to be discharged the bucket is dropped on to the ground or heap sothat the weight Z operates as before described to throw over the bail e,whereby, on the chain being again drawn up, the contents will bedischarged. To close the bucket it is again dropped on to the ground orheap, whereupon the body c, owing to its weight, drops on to the bottom,while the ring and chain will fall or slide down the link toward therecess j as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. While in thisposition the bucket is ready for loading.

A. cord m or the like may be att-ached tothe lifting chain for retainingthe ring i in the recess j so that when the crane chain is again drawnup, the link 7a, and connected parts will be thrown over to the positionshown in full lines in Fig. l for the bucket to be hoisted away. v

n, is a stop placed upon the sides of the bucket for preventing the bailfrom falling over too far in the direction o the arrow 2.

The bucket hereinbefore described is very advantageously used forloading or discharging lump coal as it enables the latter to be handledwith a minimum of breakage.

Claims.

1. A crane bucket comprising a main body and a bottom connectedtherewith to slide toward and from the main body, a standard connectedcentrally to said bottom, a bail pivoted to said main body, and a linkor supporting bar connected at one end to said bail and at its oppositeend connected with said standard, said supporting bar being providedwith tWo recesses, one near the end connected to said bail and the othernear its opposite end, whereby when the recess near the bail end of thesupporting bar is centrally over the bucket the bottom is permitted todescend to discharge the contents of the bucket and When its otherrecess is in said position the bucket Will be closed.

2. A crane bucket having a main body and a bottom connected therewith toslide toward and from the main body, a standard connected centrally tothe said bottom, a bail pivoted to said main body, a supporting barconnected at one end to said bail and near its opposite end connected bya link to the said standard, the said supporting bar having a recessnear the end at which it is connected to said bail and another recessnear its connection to said link,

the said construction including a Weight secured to one of said parts tocause the said supporting bar when released from burden to move in adirection to bring the recess near the bail centrally above the bucket.

3. A crane bucket having a main body Y secured to the end connected Withsaid .Y

standard tending when the supporting means is slackened, to move theparts to bring the bail approximately centrally over the said bucket.

JOHN ACE ROBERTS. lVitnesses ALBERT SPHILLIPS, MORGAN ROBERTS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

